Ruling Youkai
by DeMoNtAiNtEd
Summary: READ PROFILE
1. Oh No

-I felt like typing, so that's my excuse/ I will type up the chap. 4 for 'Lost Within' I owe it to the people who reviewed, just wait a day and it'll be up...-  
  
Ruling Youkai  
  
chapter 1: Oh No...  
  
"Kezosana-chan!" screamed Hojo as Kagome pulled him into the black van full of refugees.  
  
"She's dead Hojo! You saw those wolf youkai and what they did to them!" Kagome shrieked in fury and sorrow.  
  
"She can't be! No! She can't be!" Hojo cried brokenly as Kagome hugged him.  
  
Seven days...SEVEN fucking days was all it took. Kagome still couldn't believe it; she'd thought she'd never see another youkai again. On the first day the entire world of News Casting had a field day when the youkai's revealed themselves to the world of 2000 (Not specific date, just at the time period.era...whatever.). On the second, scientists of all kinds were trying to get there hands on them, to dissect and study them.   
  
The third day, the youkai had slaughtered the scientists that had tried to get too close. There was much grief and shock on that day, one of Kagome's friends had lost both her parents, both had been eager scientists at the newfound species. When the third day faded into the fourth day, armies around the world marched to destroy the youkai, they fought the entire twenty four hours. On the fifth day, there corpses had been given there dues over the news.  
  
On the sixth day, the youkai's had destroyed all forms of human government and had begun there own; enslavery. Kagome would never forget that day when she saw the pretty cat youkai on the seven'o'clock news, it aired on every channel, in every nation, all over the world, through radio's, telegrams, mail, by any and all means neccesary.  
  
She'd told us the new laws that the Ruling Youkai of the world had set for the humans; there lives of freedom depending upon there ranks as slaves and servants to the youkai. Every human must be registered with a collar containing there name, rank, owner, and a small scroll of there privelages as there alotted servants.  
  
Kagome's jaw clenched as she remembered nearly every man fight for the freedom of themselves, for there woman, for there children, and how they'd lost. Hardly a trace of there bodies left, it was then that the male human had become an endangered species.  
  
And on the seventh day, they were broken.  
  
Those seven days were forever branded into Kagome's mind as another fresh set of tears coursed down her cheeks. She was among the few refugee's in Tokyo that had become refugees, 'Backwater Scum' to the youkai. They were headed for the Higuirashi shrine.  
  
Kagome let out a harsh strangled laugh at the thought of her sanctuary, as it happened, the Higuirashi shrine had been uprooted and transported down into the earth, tree's and all; her grandfather was responsible for this. For once in his entire life, for all his myths, legends, and sealing scrolls, the one spell that worked had been the transportation spell for the shrine.  
  
She had no hopes for finding any of her old friends from fuedal japan; especially Inuyasha, he after all, had been a hanyou. Even after all those years, his human blood would have finally ended it for him. Kagome was sure of that, he had never accomplished his goal, to use the shikon no tama; because Kagome still had it, it magnified her miko powers which kept the pyschic youkai from finding the sanctuary.  
  
"Turn left then roundabout Kodosa!" Kagome barked to the driver who was scarcely twelve years old, he had skill to get in and out fast, but even that had not saved her mother when a clan of bear youkai had corralled the truck into a dead end.  
  
Kodosa had the scars across his left eye as a painfull reminder that he had barely escaped with his life.  
  
"I know 'Gome! They're already tailing us at a seven kedo distance!" Kodosa yelled back as he did as Kagome had said, quickly losing the youkai.  
  
kedo: a word I made up, that is about as long as seven hundred miles  
  
Kagome wished she could have any familiar faces from fuedal japan with her, for all the refugees hated youkai and hanyou alike with a vengence, they didn't know that there were good youkai out there...Kagome thought of Shippou the kitsune pup she'd sort of adopted.  
  
"We're here." Kodosa said flippantly, getting out of the parked van to help the injured.  
  
- r/r if you want me to continue, this was kind of on the spot, that same have to type thing going on... -.-; it's really starting to bug me....- 


	2. Slave Markets

-I would have put up a chapt. for both lost within and this one yesterday but my bot (computer) wouldn't let me....it went something like this...  
on internet. fanfic.net...fanfic.net...FANFIC.NET....-.-* shut bot off. turn bot on. internet. fanfic.net....*breathe deep....1...2...3...fanfic.net...-.-* : ( *punches the tower* (trust me, it hurts your hand more than the computer.)  
and so on...  
  
Since I don't know japanese currency very well I'm making up my own, or more like the youkai's currency, (wanting to rid themselves of human things)  
  
a single Venle: about $700,000,000 us dollars...  
a single Noer(nO eR): about 700,000 us dollars...  
a single Xev(Z eV): about 7,000  
  
Ruling Youkai  
  
Chapter 2: Slave Markets  
  
"Kodosa," Kagome said flatly as she helped him with the injured, healing the wounds with a touch of her hand and her miko powers.  
  
"I know 'Gome, I just got wind of it," Kodosa said through clenched teeth, "Several slave markets have just opened up in tokyo."  
  
"Slave markets? What are those?" A young woman asked, she wore gauze around her skull, a few strips covering the bloody patches over her eyes.  
  
Kagome had been unable to fully heal the now permanantly blind woman, for her wounds had been filled with poison, they had been there too long for her to heal them completely, but at least the woman still had her life. But even in these days, it wasn't something worth much any more.  
  
"It's where those filthy youkai bring there slaves to sell, barter, and put them up for auction. Then buying one's they've taken a fancy too." Kodosa practically spat the words out that dripped with loathe and disgust.  
  
Kagome studied her shrine, her home...her sanctuary; but with dull eyes of steely ice. Her heart was no longer worn on her sleeve, except for the rare times she'd cried, like today. They'd caught her off gaurd, Kezosana and Hojo had been up top, collecting food and water for those in the sanctuary. The two hadn't stuck out, for Kagome had constructed fake id collars for them, stating there rank and privelages and so on... She'd written them up so that when a youkai read the collar and the name of the owner, they left them alone. But this time they had known.   
  
'But how?' Kagome thought as she headed off to her bathroom, drawing a warm bubble bath, stripping off her garments deftly, stepping into the lukewarm water, leaning against the old white porcelin tub.  
  
"They couldn't have possibly known they were fakes," Kagome thought aloud, releasing a deep sigh as she rested her head against the side.  
  
"Unless they checked with the owners themselves." A familiar voice in the doorway said.  
  
Kagome's head snapped sharply to the doorway, Hojo stood watching her, his eyes full of obvious lust and boyish ignorance at the pink tinge on his cheeks. Her eyes narrowed, sitting up within an instant she grabbed the conditioner bottle and threw it at his head, screaming at the top of his lungs as she did so,  
  
"HENTAI! GET OUT YOU PERVERT!!!"   
  
Hojo was too slow to move as the heavy bottle of conditioner smacked into his forehead, he fell to the floor...unconscious.  
  
"Keh! Weak." Kagome snorted to herself as she stood up abruptly; an idea forming in her mind.  
  
They had taken Kezosana's life, and the human races's freedom; Kagome knew that even her little sanctuary would eventually fall and her death would be in vain, for the slavery would never end until the last youkai was destroyed. Her face became solemn and expressionless as she headed towards the main hall after dressing herself.  
  
If she were to die, she would give others the chance to live with what little freedom she could give them; her target, was the slave market forty miles west of the sanctuary.  
  
"Kodosa!" Kagome called over the group of what few, able men that still breathed.  
  
She glanced around her, dozens of women were heavy with children; the men and women needed more men, and more humans to live on, no one complained, everyone excepted this as men slept with women, each one trying the next to bear children.   
  
She herself had denied several, Hojo in particular having been denied several thousand times... -.-;  
  
"Yeah?" He called gruffly, setting down a large sword similar to the appearance of the tenseiga.  
  
"We're going to ambush the slave market tomorrow at noon, and kill as many youkai as we can." Kagome said tonelessly.  
  
A loud cheer erupted inside the small dining hall, shouts of agreement filled with hate for all youkai. Everyone cheered; they craved the death of youkai, needed it, wanted it, lusted for it; it made kagome sick.  
  
"We can't." Kodosa's cold voice said above the din.  
  
Everyone shut up and glared at Kodosa, some with questioning glances of disbelief, others with disgust. The one person who hated youkai more than anything in the world and the next was the man who had said no.  
  
"Because The Ruling Youkai will be there, it is the market with only the best flesh to auction and buy." Kodosa spat disgustedly.  
  
"All the more reason to go, we shall kill the three whom are responsible for this." Kagome said, "I will go there now to scope it out, we need a careful plan to bring back the fathers for all these children." She said with a wave of her hand at the women with swollen bellies.  
  
"Not alone 'Gome." Kodosa said as he strapped his sword onto his back.  
  
"Yes alone, you've been targeted, we can't lose you yet to these youkai Kodosa." Kagome said as she motioned at the rather large, single cut at the base of his neck and ended at his breast plate, a simple mark to track and target humans that've caught the eye's of youkai.  
  
He cursed under his breath as Kagome faded into the shadows; disappearing up top.  
  
As Kagome exited an abandoned house she looked around, a few youkai walking down the streets, there slaves trailing behind dutifuly. Cupping her hands to her lips in a strange position she moistened her lips and blew threw her hands three times, the sound of a small bird escaped her hands to echo into the starry sky.  
  
A large midnight black stallion materialized in front of her, it's black coat shining beautifuly from the rays of the glowing moon. It pawed the ground, it's large black eyes staring into her green-blue ones.  
  
Without warning she jumped onto the youkai's back, grabbing a fistfull of the silky black mane, she nuzzled her face into it briefly, "It's good to see you Ryo," Kagome murmured into the stallions mane. Ryo launched into the air, galloping in the air towards there destination.  
  
Ryo was a youkai stallion, he could not take on a human form like most youkai, for he'd been cursed to remain as he was for being kind to his slaves. For Ryo bought many slaves, being a rich youkai. When no youkai was near he'd help his slaves regain there hope, giving them what freedom he could, doting on each one affectionately, practically being at there beck'an'call. Other times he trained them to defend themselves, to render a youkai unconscious long enough to get away, and taught them to act like servants, place dirt in the right places, to wear their tattered clothes, and act submissive and hopeless when youkai were around.   
  
But in the end he'd been discovered by TRY (The Ruling Youkai) sentenced to an immortal life as a stallion unable to speak, just to be that of a horse; his slaves had been killed. It was better to be killed than be a slave to a sadistic youkai, so they'd been lucky to have swift deaths.  
  
Kagome jumped from Ryo's back and landed soundlessly on top of one of the human cages, they slept soundly, there dreams undisturbed by her presance.  
  
The area was large, spacious, and rather old fashioned. Several tent-houses were scattered everywhere; dozens of large selling booths made a pathway down to the auction blocks, where the humans were paraded about, some even enjoying it as they saw youkai bid up to at least seventeen noers.  
  
Kagome's lip curled in disgust as she saw a rather slutty looking slave pur some youkai's name with lust. She seriously considered vomitting right about then, but then again, not all youkai were bad. She shrugged, at least she was one of the few who had it good.  
  
She knew the Try government members would be sitting in the three large, nicely made chairs that sat on a large dais in the back of the auctioning blocks, behind the nonexistant crowd in the empty areas.  
  
Kagome's ears picked up a rustling in the tents, she back flipped onto the roof of the dais and drew her dagger that had been bathed in poison. She heard bits and pieces of the conversation dealing with the orginazation of the markets, she was listening earnestly, straining her ears and her senses; it wasn't the conversation that intrigued her, it was the voices.  
  
There were two, the first was rather young, his voice still boyish and full of youth, the other was cold. They spoke to each other as if they were old acquiantances, or frequent ones, the cold voice was extremely familiar to her, the voice was a bit pompous, or at least the speaker knew exactly what he was capable of, and very sure of himself.  
  
She crawled closer towards the voices, still on the roof, very close to the edge now. There was a slit in the tent as the two conversed, the boyish voice belonged to the shadow on the tent of the wall that paced back and forth restlessly and the other was an unmoving shadow, still and stoic.  
  
Scooting forward a bit and craning her neck, she wanted to match the voices to the faces. She wanted to know who they were. It was knawing at her, as if she knew them both but she couldn't think of it.  
  
A streak of red-brown fur she saw of the young man as he passed the slit in the tent. The still figure moved towards the slit, as if noticing it, he then passed it, picking up a shadow that she took as a sword.  
  
Kagome froze instantly, the breath caught in her throat; it wasn't the sword that caught her attention or froze her into place. She'd seen something she hadn't seen since the fuedal era. She knew it had to be one of them, for only THEY had that color.  
  
The figure passed by the small slit again, a flash of silver hair burned her eyes again.  
  
-that's chapter two, it wasn't actually supposed to come out like this but I'll have to do the rest of the stuff in the next chapters. To those that read and reviewed the Lost Within fic, I'll write the next chapter and post it tomorrow, my back is killing me and i need serious sleep, I've survived the entire past two weeks on a maximum of 4 and a half hours of sleep...it's now deciding to kill me... T.T ...oh well... r/r or no new chap. night *yawnz, curlz up in the large cussioned chair on the dais and falls asleep* - 


	3. To Break a Spirit

-Sorry it took so long to update, I'm kind of a procrastinator, well that's an understatement.... ~.~; anyway, here's a response or two to some of the peoples that reviewed, (Not all, just a few.) And as for Inuyasha...well...nevermind...  
  
Strawberry Shortcake: Sorry for the short chapters, I try to make them long...they just sorta...end....-.-;  
Rainfall: Ditto above ^ .....-.-;;  
(Blank reviewer): Yeah's it's a s/k  
  
Avihenda and AngelXS: You may already know, but you're not going to find out till...possibly next chapter...I'm not quite sure....  
  
SB: ??? Is it safe to ask why you hate it? Like in specifics? I'd be interested to know.  
avihenda:Questions questions that will be explained later on, besides if I told you now then there goes my fanfic huh? ^___^  
  
))))Also, FYI: The society/something of youkai have created a form of government, there are THREE dominant rulers/big 'dogs'/masters of the world/etc. The rest are under there rule. (((((  
  
These are going to be on every chapter so that you can come back to it for referance if stuff/people are being sold....  
a single Venle: about $700,000,000 us dollars...  
a single Noer(nO eR): about 700,000 us dollars...  
a single Xev(Z eV): about 7,000  
  
Ruling Youkai  
  
Chapter 3: To Break a Spirit  
  
She rubbed her eyes, she was noticeably gawking; and that alone made one stupid. Ignoring the figures in the tent she jumped off the roof of the dais and ran towards the awaiting form of Ryo.  
  
The large stallion nickered softly at her return, nudging against her with his forehead. She glanced back once, sheathed her dagger, and then pulled herself up onto the stallions back and rode towards the sanctuary, already forming her plan of attack upon the ignorant youkai.  
  
"She'll be back." A boyish voice spoke gruffly, a small growl escaping his clenched lips.  
  
"Probably some damned human spy with petty, low-level magicks." He added rudely at having been spied on while conversing with a long time friend.  
  
"..." The other said nothing as he simply let his mind work it out about this newfound refugee spy.  
  
Loud cheers of agreement broke the silence of the shrine as everyone took up three cheers for Kagome and her masterful plan. She blushed at the amount of enthusiasm these people were exhibiting; but then it dissolved, they were no better than the youkai, they just wanted there revenge in blood for the loved ones they had all lost.  
  
Kagome couldn't blame them for there hate, but it still wasn't right to kill another just for revenge. Because no matter how many you killed, the ones you lost would never come back. She sighed as she walked to her room; closing the door behind her she unslung her bow and quiver full of poison-tipped arrows.  
  
She fell onto her bead with a heavy sigh; tomorrow, she might die. A harsh laugh escaped from her, Kagome didn't really mind if she died, at least she might get the chance to take the three responsible for enslavery into hell with her. She groaned once before falling into a heavy sleep.  
  
"...kagome...Kagome...Kagome!" A muffled voice reached her ears, she felt herself shaking, being gripped by the shoulders, her head lolled to the side before she cracked open an eye.  
  
"It's almost time, hurry." Kodosa's unusually soft voice reached her ears.  
  
Looking at him she saw three red stripes across the eye that was missing and he wore a special type of cloth that prevented youkai from piercing the flesh; 'from a firerat...' Kagome thought absently as she roused herself from sleep.  
  
Kododsa gave a curt nod before turning and exiting her bedroom.  
  
Kagome stretched briefly then pulled on her own armor; also from that of a firerat, except her clothes were more modernized, the tight black armor laced up the front, stopping just below her naval. The shirt was a long-sleeved turtleneck that was tight around her wrists and neck, it was due to the thick leather bands on them, littered with razor sharp spikes. She tied her hair up on top of her head so as not to distract her or be snagged during battle.  
  
The reason for the spikes was to keep herself from being strangled if a youkai got to close, leaving any vital organ ungaurded when going out to battle any youkai was likely to come back to the sanctuary; in pieces.  
  
She laced up her boots and hid several small daggers strategically around her body, she strapped a small short sword to her hip. Her bow and quiver were strapped across her back, a deadly glaive in her right hand.  
  
Exiting her room for what she knew to be the final time Kagome met the several dozen able men and women armed and ready, most carried weapons similar to hers, a few had machine guns and revolvers. That was another thing, the TRY had destroyed most if not all types of guns and bombs, making sure only they had that sort of power.   
  
Bullets could kill youkai, if their heart had been pumped full of them that is. In the long run all they did was put a nick in there defenses, nothing more.  
  
She nodded once, everyone made there way above ground; the pregnant, young, and old watched as there only chance for a better future walked out to fight the ones responsible for the fall of humankind.  
  
Once above groundlevel Kagome nodded to a particularly bold woman on her left, she didn't bother to answer as she began casting a barrier spell. It would hide there scents and movements, until it was time to fight.  
  
Kagome whistled, instantly the large black youkai stallion appeared in front of her. The others took a step back and some even aimed there guns to fire.  
  
"No!" Kagome called out to her men as she mounted Ryo whom heald his head high, full of his youkai pride.  
  
"This is Ryo Gintaka; the youkai sentenced to an eternity in his true form for helping thousands of slaves. You owe him your respect." Kagome spoke to her group of refugees, some stood there ground, taking the safety off there guns.  
  
"Ashumei, you owe your daughters life to this man, if it weren't for him, she would not have been smuggled out safely to the sanctuary." Kagome said to one woman that had been holding a shotgun.  
  
The woman slowly lowered her weapon, studied the stallion Kagome was seated upon then gave a bow of thanks and respect.  
  
The horse snorted and returned the bow.  
  
Another spell was cast by several men and women, instantly the gathered men and women lifted up into the air, flying towards there destination at a breakneck pace.  
  
They passed over many tall buildings and old ruins, some of the men spitting upon the heads of unaware youkai jerking there servants forward.  
  
Wordlessly the group split up into three sections, each with their own sorcerer or sorceress. The first group broke up into smaller groups, landing silently on top of the roofs of the small merchant shops that were busy with youkai and packed with slaves. The second did the same but landed around the slave cages, already picking the locks and giving the slaves instructions.  
  
Kagome's group headed straight for the auction blocks that were already parading nude concubines back and forth. Each member floated above there designated sections, waiting for there leaders signal. For as soon as they landed, the barrier would dispel.  
  
Kagome herself was directly above the dais where she'd been last night, she glanced around, seeing dozens of rich youkai bid for the best piece of flesh they could rut with until they were torn and scarred from there rough treatment.   
  
"One noer and four xevs!" one youkai shouted.  
  
"Two noers and SIX xevs!" the other shouted.  
  
"Three noers and 14 xevs!" a new bidder yelled.  
  
It was no secret that youkai were sadistic bedpartners; it was more like a public secret. Everyone knew it, nobody said anything.  
  
"SOLD! To the youkai in the lovely blue kimono!" The auctioneer cheered.  
  
Squeezing her glaive she stood on Ryo's back, said her silent goodbyes then jumped from her mount with a bloodcurdling battle cry, to land on the stage. She sliced the youkai auctioneer's neck, his blood gushing from his paling throat as he fell to the ground, dead.  
  
Youkai everywhere screamed, gasped, and twisted this way and that in surprise at there sudden attack. Their momentary shock would last only moments until they attacked. But that had given Kagome's men the momentary advantage.  
  
They fell like stones out of the sky as they each picked a youkai to slaughter before moving onto the next one. Jumping from the stage she rushed a large boar youkai with the bladed end of her glaive, sending her miko powers through the weapon to blast against the surprised demon.  
  
His eyes glazed over with a clear film of death.  
  
Her eye's scanned the dais, there faces were shaded but the three responsible for everything were sitting calmly in there seats, not being attacked, not killing others. Just watching her with sadistic amusement.  
  
Wiping her blade on the bloodied kimono of another youkai she'd killed she made a direct pathway towards them; heading for the one in the center. She stopped a few feet away, her eyes glowing with anger as her body began to glow blue.  
  
She raised her glaive to attack when the sound froze her in her tracks, chilling her blood to the bones. Kagome heard the strangled cry of an animal in pain, she looked up to see Ryo's shiny black mane, matted with fresh blood, the large black eyes of her beloved friend stared into her blue-green ones, in a flash of an instant, they'd become lifeless.  
  
Nothing registered in her mind. Everything was blank, she didn't hear the sounds of battle, the screams directed towards her, nor the dead youkai she'd mysteriously killed that now lay at her feet. Only then did she notice the colors, everything was a hazy, bloody red. She felt her teeth clench in pain, anger, and sorrow.  
  
A haughty laughter caught her attention. She jerked her gaze towards a lean-muscled man sitting on the far left in the dais, she noticed his bloody claws that he brought to his lips as he licked Ryo's blood.  
  
A great nothingness filled her mind and body as she walked brazenly up the steps and stood before the now silent youkai member of TRY. She slammed the blade of her glaive into the wood, not before it pierced his foot, nailing it to the floor, he released a howl of pain, he lashed out at her with his claws, they made a sound of scraping metal as it collided with her armor.  
  
Unstrapping her bow with amazing calmness and sureity Kagome pulled a single poison-tipped arrow and aimed it into the man's trembling forehead. She pulled the bow back as far as it was able without snapping, and held it there with bated breath.  
  
"Kukukuku...Tell me your name so I may carve it on your flesh, so that whenever I look at your pretty corpse I will know who tried to avenge the pathetic stallion." The mans haughty voice spoke levely though he trembled with rage.  
  
"Kagome Higuirashi." She answered dead pan.  
  
Preparing to release the arrow Kagome quickly swung the bow to the left, releasing the arrow with a 'twang'. It sailed through the air with deadly accuracy, embedding itself deep into the forehead of a youkai that had nearly killed four of her men that had been busy with others.  
  
Saving her men had been her downfall as Kagome turned back to face the TRY member only to have a fist connect with her jaw. The blow sent her through the air to land heavily on the ground, four to five feet away from TRY. Getting back on her feet she grabbed a hidden dagger and flung it at the now standing youkai; filling it with a blast of her miko powers.  
  
The blade became lodged in the youkai's hand, he clutched his wrist in pain as his entire right arm disintergrated into ashes, leaving him nothing in it's place. Ashes slipped through his claws; the dagger clattered to the floor.  
  
"YOU WILL DIE!" He howled in anger as he charged at her.  
  
Instantly a large, old fashioned shield appeared in front of the furious youkai, he collided head on and fell to the ground, his head spinning.  
  
"Don't you interfere fox! I have no qualms with you!" The demon howled as he bared his clawed hand at the shield.  
  
"No, I want her!" The shield spoke, "I'll pay for her life." He added.  
  
"Naga! Cast the spells and get everyone out of here, fight another day! Bury Ryo for me by the father tree!" Kagome ordered as her loyal ali(?) nodded swiftly and cast the spells.  
  
Instantly the men and women were shielded, corpse, wounded, and still fighting were dragged up into the air, headed for the shrine. Her friend Ryo trailing in the air behind.  
  
The lone figure who still sat in the middle seat upon the dais wave a stripped hand towards something. Instantly several guards had encircled Kagome, they wore gask masks and four of them had tazers, another three had large nets. She was soon electrocuted into submission, the nets further becoming entangled as she faught to get free.  
  
"NO! I will kill her!" The other growled.  
  
"There's only one way to settle this then." The shield said as he turned into a puff of red smoke, standing in his place, a tall, thin-muscled teen with a shiny fox tail protruding from his backside. Wild red-brown hair tied back half-hazardly, his ears were pointed and his features were hardened yet still held the boyish charm of a kid.  
  
"We auction her," he said, "Whoever bids the highest gets to keep her." He stated flattly.  
  
"Hmph." The youkai snorted, "It's obvious who'll win, but I'll allow you to be shamed in public so as to better me." He growled.  
  
"Get her ready then." The youkai snapped to the guards.  
  
"What impatience Naraku." The teen snorted as he took his seat back upon the dais.  
  
"As were you, you sniveling littly kit! If I didn't know better I'd say you liked the wench!" The demon named Naraku retaliated.  
  
"As if you'd know any better you baka! Look who fell in love with a corpse!" He shot back.  
  
Kagome struggled against her captors as they tore off her armor with ease; apparently they'd dealt with this type of clothing before...-.-* She struggled relentlessly, flaring small bits of her power towards the youkai, several lay dead at her feet.  
  
"Keep you hands off of me!!!" She screamed as the armor and her under garments were ripped from her body, to land in tatters on the floor.  
  
She held her hands over her body, trying to shield herself from the eyes that watched her with a different look, lust.  
  
"Time to auction you of on the slave block you pretty little ningen." A frog youkai croaked to her, dragged her towards the stage where the uninjured youkai roared in impatience.  
  
"...No...!" She gasped as she strained against his arms.  
  
She felt a sting in her arm as a cat youkai retracted her claw from Kagome's arm. The sedative was already calming her nerves, placing her in an intoxicated state of consciousness, willingly walking out onto the stage into the bright sunlight.  
  
'My. . . .my last day. . . . of. . . . my last day of. . . . freedom. . .' She thought dimly before the sun blinded her.  
  
-*MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA*coughing horribly* Anyway...that's the end of that chapter, I'm so proud of myself, I ended exactly where I wanted to! YAY! ^__________^ (Obviously you can tell that this does not happen very often for me...-.-;) tomorrow I'm going to write up the (4th?) chapter of Lost Within and then post it, r/r, you know the rules by now...-   
Next chapter will be Chapter 4: The Price of Flesh 


	4. The Price of Flesh

-I hope this chapter turns out the way I want it...-.-; well...hmm...oh, about 'Lost Within' well everyone should know that in the manga's of Inuyasha, he is rather...(a nice word...-.-) he's dense about the obvious, like the whole jealousy between Kikyo and Kagome thing, so that should explain his actions in the most recent chapters...  
  
OKAYYou obviously have some assumptions on who the three rulers are, well, you have a solid fact that Naraku is indeed one of the TRY government/rulers. That's the only one I've said so far, You'll probably find the other two's identities in this chap.  
  
As for Inuyasha, I remind you all of the obvious, he is a hanyou, and he has human blood. The well had stopped working the day Kagome had been sent back. Think REALLY hard on these two facts, humans back-in-the-day didn't live very long, the youkai were practically ageless immortals. Inuyasha would have led a pretty long life, but still...the time difference.   
  
AND another thing, they do not recognize(?) Kagome as of yet, they just think she's a refugee spy...now....  
  
Just made up, TRY has three standing ranks:  
  
Emperor: the one running EVERYTHING  
2nd Emperor: Works just below the emperor  
Prince: The heir to inherit the emporer's position should he die, 'disappear', or relinquishes his position.  
  
These are going to be on every chapter so that you can come back to it for referance if stuff/people are being sold....  
a single Venle: about $700,000,000 us dollars...  
a single Noer(nO eR): about 700,000 us dollars...  
a single Xev(Z eV): about 7,000  
  
Ruling Youkai  
  
Chapter 4: The Price of Flesh  
  
"Time to auction you of on the slave block you pretty little ningen." A frog youkai croaked to her, dragged her towards the stage where the uninjured youkai roared in impatience.  
  
"...No...!" She gasped as she strained against his arms.  
  
She felt a sting in her arm as a cat youkai retracted her claw from Kagome's arm. The sedative was already calming her nerves, placing her in an intoxicated state of consciousness, willingly walking out onto the stage into the bright sunlight.  
  
'My. . . .my last day. . . . of. . . . my last day of. . . . freedom. . .' She thought dimly before the sun blinded her.  
  
-  
  
Kagome's mind whirled with bright flashes of sunlight as the rough wooden boards nipped at her bare feet. She walked forward in a daze, against all her mind's protests. Her body then stopped in front of an unusually tall, willowy looking youkai.  
  
His features were nothing but a blurry mess as she tried to shake her head free of it, only making her skull ache worse.  
  
The sounds of howling, whistles, and throaty growls reached her ears, her lip curled in disgust. She was ashamed of herself as they paraded her back and forth on the acursed stage. She felt that if she didn't stop walking back and forth soon she'd willing leap into the oncoming darkness that was at the fringes of her mind. A small groan escaped her lips; her feet stopped moving, for that small gift, she was willing to kiss the ground, the chairs, even the bloody stage.  
  
"Who will bid five xevs! Do I hear five xevs anyone?!" Some annoying voice scratched at Kagome's ears, she visibly flinched.  
  
"I bid six xevs!" An annonymous youkai called from the blurry cloud.  
  
"Seven!" another called.  
  
"Eight!" a third yelled.  
  
Kagome couldn't make sense of all the voices that she heard whirling around her, making her head ache and her body dizzy with exhaustion. More shouting, she heard that boyish voice a couple of times, and the voice of that idiot youkai she so badly wanted to skewer.  
  
"Nine noers and fifteen xevs!" Naraku said icily, the other youkai bidders having stopped bidding awhile ago.  
  
The youkai now stood watching between the two rulers as they faced each other off, both glaring at each other with death in there eyes. The other TRY ruler still sat on his chair, he hadn't even moved a muscle throughout the entire ordeal.  
  
His liquid gold eyes trailed over the backwater scum mercilessly, studying every inch of her with intent interest. There was something...familiar about her. He couldn't quite place it, maybe it was the braided black hair? 'Their are quite a few concubines around with her particular style...maybe she was an escapee?' He thought absently, he rested his chin on the top of his right hand, he sighed.   
  
Times have changed, but not to his likings, as if anything had gone his way since that damned brother of his had been born. Humans had multiplied faster than rabits and mice, breading there filth wherever they went, leaving behind bastard children all over the place. Technology had arisen, along with metal guns and lead bullets.  
  
He snorted at that, 'Guns...' the flimsy material and the annoying little stings of the led pellets fired from them. He'd ordered all guns and firearms to be destroyed, they were useless and quite petty and dishonorable in his opinion.  
  
His eyes fell upon the two companions, the only living remnants of his past history of the fuedal era, in truth, in the beginning that is why he'd taken the young kitsune in, he'd found the arrogant idiot Naraku along the way through time, had taken him in as well; it seems as the years went by he wanted to keep memories of the past, preserve the old ways.  
  
For he knew that the humans would one day regain their freedom and kill off the remaining youkai, for we did not breed as fast as humans did, nor were we born with the powerful emotions that somehow gave these weak humans the strength to defeat youkai.  
  
'Enough of these musings,' he cut himself off, gazing once more at the future slave, possibly concubine depending on who bought her, for now the only two bidders happened to be his own trinkets of the past, the young uppety demon Shippou, and the ever idiotic Naraku.  
  
His head jerked in the direction of the naked refugee, his senses had picked something up, power, miko power...and...his golden orbs were frozen in place, gold met greenish-blue. His eyes widened, even through the obvious drug induced look in her eyes, he knew who that girl was.   
  
There was no mistaking the familiar black hair, the pale skin, the green-blue eyes, and the miko powers. It was Inuyasha's wench! He had to have her now. She was another relic from the past, another form of memory to prove that the fuedal era when humans were small in numbers and youkai were feared just by their existance had happened. He needed to have Inuyasha's miko that had defeated him so many times, that had drawn the tetsusaiga from the bowels of his dead father's grave.  
  
"Four venle to end this nonsense, the refugee is mine." The figure upon the dais said, his cold, commanding voice silencing Naraku's and Shippou's arguing.  
  
"Why do you want her?" Naraku asked incrediously.  
  
"I don't have that kind of money!" Shippou growled at the unmoving man on the dais.  
  
"SOLD FOR 4 VENLE!!!" The auctionieer shouted in disbelief, slamming his mallet on the podium.  
  
"The next set of slaves will be up in fifteen minutes!" A youkai with a pocket watch yelled to the disspersing crowd.  
  
A slave handler came from behind the stages with a chained Kagome in his arms, she was still in a very obvious drugged state of mind, he bowed as best he could while still holding the slave in his arms. He held her out to the TRY Emperor, the emperor stood up gracefully and took the practically unconscious girl in his grasp.  
  
He glanced at the prince, then at the 2nd emperor briefly, they both nodded after a moments hesitation, still angry that they'd both lost. Without looking the TRY members took off into the air, heading for the western castle.  
  
"So why did you take her?" Shippou asked as they drew closer to the large castle that had stood since the time of fuedal japan.  
  
"She is the hanyou's wench from the fuedal era." He answered simply, his silver white hair billowing in the winds.  
  
"KIKYO'S REINCARNATION!?" Naraku practically screamed in disbelief as he made a futile lunge for the unconscious girl, only to dip down into the air as the emporer easily evaded.  
  
"Yes, I believe that's the one." He answered coldly, flecking a glance of tightly controlled fury at Naraku.  
  
"Is it really. . .Kagome?" Shippou asked more to himself than anyone, his eyes glued to the refugee with a different light.  
  
His eyes glittered with sorrow, happiness, and then anger. 'How could she have left me?! She promised!' He thought to himself bitterly, turning his head away from her. He turned to the emperor catching his gaze quickly,  
  
"What do you plan to do with...Kagome?" He asked, his head cocked to the side in a curious, but sad manor.  
  
He then looked down at the unconscious bundle he held in his arm, truth be told, he hadn't a clue. She was a relic of his past and had thus wanted her, that had been his logic in the matter when he'd bought the wench.  
  
"I will think of something." He said indifferently, landing in the garden by a rather large, blossoming sakura tree.  
  
Two human slaves walked out into the garden and bowed low to the ground before there master; the took the young woman from his arm and bowed out, Kagome in tow.  
  
The second emperor disappeared with a frown on his lips somewhere in the depths of his castle while the prince sat in one of the low hanging boughs of a sakura tree. He walked up to the tree with the despaired prince in it.  
  
"What ails you prince?" he asked indifferently, not at all interested in the answer, he'd asked only due to the fact that the kitsune needed to vent his feelings, and he was normally the one he did it to.  
  
"Her, why did she show up in this time? I knew her home was in the future, but I didn't know it was now!" Shippou growled as he dug his claws into the ceremonial robes he had to wear when in the presance of youkai lower than himself.  
  
"Why did she leave me?! She promised she'd always be with me! It's all that stupid Inuyasha's fault!" Shippou screamed as he jumped from the tree, stomping back and forth angrily.  
  
"If it wasn't for him and that stupid Kikyo she wouldn't have left me!" Shippou howled in anger, increasing his pace.  
  
"..." He said nothing, waiting for Shippou's next outburst.  
  
"If that stupid hanyou were still around I'd kill him!" He screamed, slamming his fist into the ground repeatedly, falling onto his knee's weak with anger as he continued to beat the ground mercilessly.  
  
He sighed impatiently, walking up to the tired and furious kitsune he touched a single finger to Shippou's temple. The young kitsune slumped onto the ground, dead in sleep.  
  
Instantly three human slaves walked up and picked up the sleeping form of the prince, they bowed before the emperor,  
  
"Take him to his room and give him a sleeping potion." He stated flatly, not even looking at the lowly servants.  
  
"Yes Great Sesshoumaru-sama." They spoke in unison, taking Shippou into the castle.  
  
The emperor sighed as he stared at the empty sakura tree; the soft pink petals falling to the ground. The sakura blossoms blew in the soft wind, falling softly like snow.  
  
-I admit as I typed this it didn't sound very...interesting, I wanted it to be more...um...the word would have to be...action-ey...sort of, more dramatic possibly. *shrugs* oh well, r/r- 


	5. A Veil of Mystery Lifted

-A little early in the writin', but oh well, if it lacks length, well sorry then, no one's perfect, look at it this way, it's either my short, fairly grammared fanfics or one long fic that's in a huge chunk, and hardly decipherable in spelling.-  
  
To Emily: On Lost Within, thanks for that review about the fates, in truth I never actually thought about why, but when I read it, I already had the plot of the story and the three fates reasons for pairing sess and kag together, thanx a bunch!  
  
Also: I know I'm strange and all but you'll be seeing most of my 'fetishes' or whatever the fuck you call them in most if not all of my fics, I like blood, biting necks/shoulders and so on origins an such, cuddling, the necks on humans/youkai/whatever, and the sound of a heart beat. And leather, dominating/domination and submission type stuff, bondage, chains, dark shtuff and sadism(to an extent if not fully) And for some strange reason I like clocks, and there infernal ticking noises, don't ask me why, I just do.  
  
Sidenote: Sesshoumaru and Naraku are more...mellowed out since the times when they were still rather young in Fuedal Japan, they'll still retain there darknesses and slightly sadistic ways...just that there...hmm...*godamnit what's the word?...* they're a bit more mature I guess that's what you'd call it...  
  
As for Naraku, I suspected he is/was a hanyou, well he survived because he's a freak with freakish things...j/k, i've yet to think of something, maybe some sort of spring of immortality or something...*shrugs*  
  
On Inuyasha, It's still undecided if i'm going to kill him or let him have his turn in the fic. Question, it's really been buggin me, whats AU stand for? I see it in the summaries all the time, it's really starting to annoy me.   
  
a single Venle: about $700,000,000 us dollars...  
a single Noer(nO eR): about 700,000 us dollars...  
a single Xev(Z eV): about 7,000  
  
Ruling Youkai  
  
Chapter 5: A Veil of Mystery Lifted  
  
"If that stupid hanyou were still around I'd kill him!" He screamed, slamming his fist into the ground repeatedly, falling onto his knee's weak with anger as he continued to beat the ground mercilessly.  
  
He sighed impatiently, walking up to the tired and furious kitsune he touched a single finger to Shippou's temple. The young kitsune slumped onto the ground, dead in sleep.  
  
Instantly three human slaves walked up and picked up the sleeping form of the prince, they bowed before the emperor,  
  
"Take him to his room and give him a sleeping potion." He stated flatly, not even looking at the lowly servants.  
  
"Yes Great Sesshoumaru-sama." They spoke in unison, taking Shippou into the castle.  
  
The emperor sighed as he stared at the empty sakura tree; the soft pink petals falling to the ground. The sakura blossoms blew in the soft wind, falling softly like snow.  
  
-  
  
Walking down the halls with graceful ease he absently noted the many portraits of his family bloodline, dating back all the way to his seven times great grandsire, the Lord Maru-Tuiatha. On the opposite wall the lords mates portraits were lined down the long hallway.   
  
In truth he cared not for the lot of them, keeping them around to remind him who he was, and what blood coursed through his veins. He glanced at his left hand, no stripes adorned the pale wrist, the pale, HUMAN wrist. He sighed as he continued on his way, there were a few reasons he'd chosen the human arm; for starters they did not rot so quickly, few of them actually looked beautiful enough for him to pass as having both arms, and so that when he finally found the tetsusaiga, he'd be able to wield it.  
  
At one point, it had been embedded with a shikon shard similar to the one Naraku had lent him years ago, but the shard had disappeared long ago. Now the arm bore a fragment of the Obsidian jewel; the jewel itself was useless to youkai, but to mortals, it prolonged life. Simply meaning the arm would not rot for a great deal of time, for good, dependable, and beautiful arms were hard to come by these days.  
  
Opening the door to his chamber he was rather surprised when he'd found one of the youkai concubines on his bed, chained to the four posts at each corner; forcing her to be on the flat of her back, spread eagle. 'This must be one of the new ones' he thought as he studied her rather voluptuous, and very nude figure. It was toned and muscled, but not overly so. Not like the usual concubines that were pampered there entire lives, and bred into perfect bodies.  
  
Even he had to admit he was quite tempted to take her then and there, but he did not, if the bitch were to get pregnant, he would have to mate her. For it was becoming harder and harder for youkai female to become successfully pregnant, many questions had come up with this situation that threatened there lives. So to help the situation, if a male got a female pregnant, it meant that he could probably do it again, and again...and so on, so the law had been made, If you get a female pregnant you have to mate her.  
  
This alone had kept him celibate for the last several decades. For all the concubines were simpering, airheaded bitches while the rich ones were snobbish, spoilt brats. You can imagine his predicament, him being the top of the food chain and all, the most handsome youkai alive title on top of that.  
  
He took the keys off the counter and headed towards his bed, he was tired today, already having several dozen memories dredged up in the last hour could tire a person out. Sesshoumaru cocked his head to the side when he saw the concubine squirm rather unusually, as if she was trying to shield herself from him.  
  
Concubines were not trained to be coy or shy, they were trained to be bold and aggressive. (And for good reason.)  
  
He saw a thick black cloth tied around her mouth, she'd been gagged; his curiousity rose.  
  
Moving to the side of the bed, he sat on the edge, studying her face in the dim lighting. His eyes grew wide, this was not a youkai, nor a concubine! She was Inuyasha's wench! Sesshoumaru's lip curled in disgust, he could not believe he'd just had even a moments thought about mating with her! A human miko no less! Ugh! With all this human filth walking around and breeding even more dirty little bastards it was no wonder he couldn't smell she was human!  
  
'But...' he thought as his eyes scanned her thick black hair, 'She does smell good for a human,'  
  
Her eyes were wide with embarassment and anger, he would have rolled his eyes, but being an emporer of the world and all...it did restrict ones own language and manor. He guessed that she wasn't going to shut up if he ungagged her, still nude, so he grabbed the silk sheets piled at the edge of the bed and pulled them up to her chin, properly covering her.  
  
Reaching the human hand over to the gag he quickly pulled it out of her mouth to let it rest on her rather attractive and appetizing neck. He was more then prepared for a barage of the little bitch's mouth, she liked to use it a lot from what he remembered. But he could think of other things he'd like that mouth of hers to be busy with instead of just words.  
  
"If you dare touch me with your disgusting body you sick fuck I swear I'll kill you." Kagome spoke calmly, her words icy cool, blue-green eyes shimmering with determination and hate.  
  
How familiar that tone, and that look was to Sesshoumaru. 'She must have practiced that a few times...' he thought with a smirk.  
  
"You are less than pleasing to the eye, lacking in certain areas, and are a human. I've no interest in rutting with the likes of you wench." Sesshoumaru stated coldly, he wondered if she would remember him.  
  
How badly he wanted her to recognize him, he didn't know why, or when he'd picked up such a strange habit, to have things from his past, to have them recognize him, remember him; even be glad to see him. Maybe one just got soft after so many years, look at his own father; he'd gone and mated to a human. 'Ugh...' he hoped he never sunk that low.  
  
Kagome was shocked at the youkai's behavior, he seemed to hold himself with a regal aire, somewhat polite in covering up her nudity. But rude! She was far from lacking! That she knew, she'd seen the countless lusty glares she'd got from youkai when she'd been topside.  
  
The voice above all else was painfully familiar, she tried to recall what happened when she got up on stage, but all she could recall was a blurry brightness, a lot of shouting and then a great silence, and then nothing. She knew that voice, but it wasn't possible, couldn't be, youkai didn't live that long, did they? 'Then if that's...Then Shippou must be alive!' Kagome thought wildly, hope filling her stone encased heart.  
  
She turned her eyes up to the youkai's, she couldn't see him in the shadows, he was just outside the candlelight. Damn him for that!  
  
"Who are you?" Kagome demanded, her voice empty of emotion, though inside she was burning with curiousity.  
  
"The ruler of the entire world," Sesshoumaru answered simply, he could tell she suspected something, and he was downright giddy that she still remembered those old times.  
  
But there was one big thing that was making him question if it was truly Inuyasha's wench, how could she be alive when she'd been traveling with his hanyou of a brother?  
  
"Your name baka!" Kagome snapped, she immediately clamped her mouth shut, she wasn't suppose to sound anctious damnit!  
  
'Dance DAINTILY AROUND the subject, not to the point, you can't get shit from a youkai if you're direct Kag!' Kagome reprimanded herself harshly. She glanced up at the youkai, if she could see his face she've bet her right arm he was grinning like an idiot.  
  
He schooled his expression, a ghost of his previous smile still haunting him, smacking it away he settled his gaze on the girl's very nice, kissable, light pink mouth.  
  
"What is your name? I might be inclined to answer the same if you refrain from idle threats and bouts of screams," Sesshoumaru spoke absently.  
  
Kagome's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, that voice, the attitude, the words, the posture, all of it! It was all so familiar, could it really be him? Could she risk speaking the name aloud and possibly incur the wrath of the Emporer? Kagome laughed in her minds eye, since when did she give a fuck about incurring anyone's wrath? Let alone a youkai's?  
  
She had no worries, she could slaughter the youkai with the miko powers combined with the shikon no tama. The only reason youkai could no longer sense the tama was because it was back inside her, in her blood, it ran through her veins, it was pumped through her heart. The Shikon no Tama had became a part of her, Kagome did not know how of it, nor the why of it, she'd just accepted it and learned to harness it's power.  
  
"Kagome Higuirashi, now tell me yours." Kagome said, then decided to act somewhat civil, "Please."  
  
So her name was Kagome, it fit, he didn't know why, but it fit her appearance and nature. Though her similarities in appearance to that of Naraku's concubine, Kikyo were uncanny. But such was to be expected from that of a reincarnation. Sesshoumaru stood and headed for the door, suddenly not tired anymore, if anything his adreniline levels were reaching an all time high; oh he'd be running tonight, in his true form, under the full moon in all it's brilliant glory, his true form running through the dark forrests in search of formidable prey.  
  
He stood from her side and walked towards the door.  
  
"I will inform the servants to place you in your own quarters, and a new wardrobe," Sesshoumaru paused as his hand rested on the doorknob, "I ask that you do not slaughter my servants, it is becoming harder to find good servants these days." He added.  
  
He turned the knob, preparing to exit his chamber,  
  
"Sesshoumaru!" Kagome called out, she had to know if it was him, could it be? Then if so, could Shippou, and possibly Inuyasha still live?  
  
He froze, she'd recognized him, had been burning with need as he had, to know if he was smething from the past, something that was living proof that the past, had indeed happened. He hid his smile, without a word, without any given inclination, he left. Closing the door softly behind him.  
  
Kagome's eyes were wide, she bit her lip, hard. Her eyebrows were arched in a mix of confused disbelief, a large smile cracked her lips. She burst out laughing, kicking her feet against the bed, the chains clattering noisily.  
  
-Not bad for an end of chapter ne? I try. Well, I ended where I wanted too, ^.^ yay. *ahem* I started this at six, and now it's about nine thirty somethin....Probably the longest time I've spent on a single chapter. *shrugs* catch ya later.- 


	6. Things To Remember

-Ello' all, this was written by 'Crash' a friend of mine who has so graciously decided to help me write and finish Ruling Youkai; I've also helped her (very little) change a few minor things in this chapter but overall, she deserves the entire credit for this chapter.   
  
So, that when you write your reviews I'm going to e-mail them all to her, unless you figure to e-mail her yourselves...  
  
Ruling Youkai   
  
Chapter 6: Things To Remember  
  
Sesshomaru stepped out of his room with a smirk. 'So she remembers me....'   
  
He noticed a servant walking down the hall; when she stopped to bow low to him, he quickly looked her over. After all she was one of his better human servants... with short brown hair, and gray eyes. She appeared to be about the same age as the Miko,   
  
"There is a woman in my room; unchain her, clothe her, give her a room, and some food if she so wishes." He dropped the keys in front of the girl and walked off.   
  
The servant looked down at the keys, picked them up, and went into his room to do as he bid.  
  
Sesshomaru went outside and headed towards the forest surrounding his home. By the time he reached the edge he had transformed into his true form, a giant, white dog that had similar markings on his fur. The large canine leapt off into the forest in search of a good hunt.  
  
He had been running for over an hour, taking out a few small, insignificant youkai that thought they had a chance of defeating him in a fight.   
  
Yet, he the moonlit night still held much to offer him from the adrenaline coursing through his veins . . . He would need to get some sleep tonight, though at the rate he was going he wouldn't get much, if any this night.  
  
Suddenly a large, male bear youkai stepped out of the bushes a short distance in front of him. Sesshomaru pulled up to a halt in front of the bear.   
  
Looking at the bear, as if judging him; Sesshomaru decided that if this youkai didn't want to kill him and take over his position, and if he could hold his own in a fight long enough, he might be useful.  
  
After all, it was rare to find a full-blooded youkai that not only could morph into their true form, but still pose a considerable threat to the 'TRY' government; at this line of thought, Sesshoumaru recalled a particular youkai...a black stalllion...Ryo.  
  
He shook his head briefly, now was not the time.  
  
Changing back into his humanoid form, Sesshoumaru inclined for the bear to do so as well.   
  
The bear youkai followed suit, also transforming into his human form. Though he was a bit shorter than Sesshomaru, he surely had more muscle mass to his body; shoulder length brown hair with flaxen streaks graced his strong features, and his eyes were quite unusual, even for a youkai; white irises and pupils while the rest of his eyes were black.   
  
The bear youkai noticed who he had stopped and bowed slightly out of respect. But he still wanted a good fight. He wasn't going to back down, even if that fight was with the emperor of the world.  
  
Sesshomaru inclined his head slightly, acknowledging the courtesy that was given him. "What is your business?" he asked the youkai calmly, although he could guess why he had been stopped.  
  
"I am out looking for a good fight," he replied good-naturedly.  
  
Sesshomaru was little shocked, even if the occurence was quite unusual; most of the others had flat out said they were taking over, this one just wanted a fight, or so he claimed.   
  
The bow meant he knew who he was challenging.   
  
"You know who I am?" he inquired.   
  
The youkai nodded.   
  
"And you still wish to fight?"   
  
Once again he nodded.   
  
"Tell me your name." he commanded.  
  
"My name is Buraun Kuma, sir." the bear youkai said, bowing again.  
  
Sesshomaru acknowledged this with a slight nod of his head just before he attacked; his claws readied for attack.   
  
Kuma stood there, waiting for it. At the last possible second he stepped out of the way with incredible speed and made an attack of his own; striking Sesshomaru in the back, but no blood was drawn.   
  
He wished not to injure the emperor.   
  
Sesshomaru was startled at that idea; everyone wanted to kill him and take over his position . . . That got him thinking. 'He may be useful to me after all . . . I can use him. At least he can defend himself properly, and his speed is little faster than weak youkai . . .' Sesshomaru went over that idea while blocking attacks made by Kuma.   
  
Sesshomaru made up his mind and went on the offensive once again; he struck Kuma in the stomach with a fist, so as to not do much damage, then he punched Kuma in the jaw, knocking him over onto the flat of his back.   
  
"I suggest you stay there for a while." Sesshomaru told him coolly, while still thinking over his previous thoughts.   
  
Then he nodded, as if coming to a decision. "I find myself in need of a loyal ally and you seem to be what I am looking for." Sesshomaru told him. "Interested?"  
  
Kuma looked at him, curiosity showing plainly in his eyes. "And what would this ally of yours do?" Kuma asked, considering the offer.  
  
"If you accept, you will find out." Sesshomaru told him quite plainly.  
  
Kuma seemed to think this information over for a while. He had already heard of the humans attack that occurred earlier that day. He'd also heard rumors that the leader of the humans, a miko, he thought, had gone straight to the dais, to attack the leaders, including Sesshomaru; vaguely remembering something about the miko being auctioned off, but all that wasn't his concern, things like that never were.  
  
"I suggest you decide quickly. I am not in a waiting mood." Sesshomaru growled out at him, not in anger, but more to have him hurry, he had other things to do besides standing idly before the pale moon.   
  
Kuma looked up at him, seeming to make his decision in that glance. He then stood up rather gracefully, bowed low to Sesshomaru, and then spoke to him while he was still bent over. "I am highly honored by the privilege that you give me, Sesshomaru-sama." he said in an extremely reverent tone.  
  
"Good. Then follow me and try to keep up." Sesshomaru ordered, breaking into a run, transforming into his true form in graceful, fluid strides; taking off towards his home.  
  
Meanwhile, back at the castle, Kagome had been unchained and clothed.   
  
It had taken a while to get her something that she liked, nearly an hour; now she was dressed, still in Sesshomaru's room, waiting for the servant, who had introduced herself as Koshimoto, to return with some food.   
  
She was dressed in tight but stretchy, black pants with a wrap around skirt over them. She also had on a tank top with wide shoulder straps made of the same material. She had chosen many outfits similar to the one she wore and also a few elegant kimonos; despite their out-of-date fashion, they reminded Kagome of happier times...despite how dangerous they had been...  
  
She was standing over by the window turning her back upon the wondrous hills of untouched green and wood; she heard the shoji door slide open.   
  
Turning around, expecting to see Koshimoto there with a tray off food; what she saw, surprised her greatly.   
  
There in the doorway stood the demon that had killed Ryo, and somehow he had managed to get the arm back that she had purified, or in other terms...disintergrated.  
  
"Can I help you with something?" Kagome asked him tightly.   
  
He said nothing, but continued to lean against the doorway and stare at her with a look that she didn't particularly like; assuming he was looking for Sesshomaru, or at least hoping he was, she spoke to him again, "If you are looking for the Emperor, then he isn't here. I don't know where he went, and I don't know when he'll be back." she explained.  
  
"Good, then we won't be interrupted." He said with a sneer clouding over his otherwise, handsome face.  
  
'What is he talking...' Kagome thought and then trailed off, suddenly realizing what he meant, not liking it at all.  
  
She held her ground, not wanting to show fear.   
  
Youkai somehow found twisted enjoyment in others fear, especially human fear... Besides, she was still furious at him for murdering Ryo.   
  
He stood then, no longer leaning on the doorway, he started walking slowly towards her, coming closer, she realized what that look was, or at least what it looked like to her. The closest thing she could think of was lust to describe it and that realization wasn't comforting to her.   
  
Kagome decided to try and distract him.   
  
"Would you like some tea?" she asked, keeping all emotion out of her voice, but she was sure he could smell some of the fear she felt radiating off of her.  
  
"There isn't any tea in here." He replied, while still advancing on her, the lust and desire in his eyes becoming more and more evident with each step.  
  
"Well of course there isn't. The servant went to get some, she'll be back in a minute. Then there will be tea here to drink." She explained. 'Great, Kag. Sound like a rambling idiot, why don't you.' she mentally berated herself.  
  
"Why should I wait to have something later, when I can have something much more interesting now." He said, leaping at her hoping to catch her and be able to have some fun before Sesshomaru showed up.  
  
Just as he lunged for her, Kagome sidestepped him, clear out of the way, just barely being missed by his claws, which he had extended some when he realized she was going to get away. Kagome tried to hit him, but he dodged her attack just as easily while again swiping out with his claws, hoping to catch her with one and slow her down some.   
  
No such luck.   
  
Kagome back flipped out of the way while still keeping an eye on her adversary as best she could.  
  
She noticed he was doing something strange, it seemed to her that he was casting some kind of spell.   
  
While she was distracted, thinking about what this youkai could be casting a spell for, he made a lunge for her and grabbed both her hands in his just as he finished the spell.   
  
She tried to use her Miko powers to get him to let go only to realize that she couldn't access them. Kagome looked up at the demon named Naraku with a quizzical look in her eyes for two reasons; the first reason was she was wondering who he was, it could be possible that this was the same Naraku that she fought for the Shikon no Tama; the other reason was she was worried as to why she couldn't use her purifying powers.   
  
Then it hit to her like a semi-truck going eighty.... That's what the spell was for, he had been playing with her until it was safe for him to touch her and have her be practically defenseless against him.  
  
"What have you done to me?" she hissed.   
  
"Do you like it? I have sealed your powers away so that you can not use them against me... Unfortunately, the spell is only temporary, but it will last long enough for me to do what I wish." He told her, pulling a length of rope out of a pocket somewhere on his being.   
  
He tied her hands together and then tied them to the bed so that she was standing up with her hands stretched over her head; she struggled uselessly, her mounting fear doing nothing but further distracting her.  
  
"This will be fun. Your struggling will only make it better." he spoke then as an afterthought, he added,"For me, anyway."  
  
She braced herself on the rope and then raised one leg to kick at him, which he batted away like a fly.   
  
This wasn't good, her fighting skills...all of them...every single training session she'd ever been put through, all the times of blood and sweat she'd endured to fight bastards like him, was now useless...why...? Simply because of a dirty trick and her fear!  
  
Damnit! She wasn't supposed to go down like this! Not like this! Never like this!  
  
"I am really going to enjoy this wench." Naraku said, and then with a swipe of his claws, the front of her shirt was reduced to tatters. Taking a step towards her and she tried to kick him again.  
  
'Maybe I can keep him away long enough for Sesshomaru to get back.... He'll help me... I hope.' She thought while still kicking at him fiercely.  
  
He got right up close to her and kissed her fully on the lips, forcing his tongue in her mouth; trapping her legs with his to block her kicks, her hands were bound, her powers subdued for the time being, and Naraku thought the human in front of him was defenseless.   
  
He was wrong, horribly wrong.   
  
Almost as soon as his tongue forced its way into her mouth, she bit down, hard and refused to let go; she drew blood and at least caused him a small measure of pain; and possibly death; she'd read it somewhere...of biting the tongue...and you'd bleed to death.  
  
Upon releasing his tongue, he backed away, out of the range of her legs as well, swearing profusely at her. "You stupid bitch! What the hell! You'll regret such insolence!." He yelled at her.   
  
Striding up to her, he backhanded Kagome across the face. "You insolent bitch! You will not get the opportunity to even try that again!" He growled.  
  
She smirked at him. "Does that mean you'll let me go?" She said in a haughty voice.  
  
"No, not at all. It means just the opposite." he sneered at her.   
  
He then bent down and took one of her nipples in his mouth and started to suck. Just when it when it was starting to get to her, he bit down, drawing blood. He did not stop with that just once, Naraku moved to a different spot and repeated the process over and over again.  
  
Each time she just bit her lip, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of hearing her scream, although he could almost smell the pain that he knew he had inflicted upon her. He knew it had to be painful, she was a human after all and the bite marks were rather vicious looking. He could also smell the salt tears forming in her eyes and trailing down her cheek. He smirked at that, but decided that he should probably continue before Sesshomaru decided to come back.  
  
'No!!' Kagome screamed at herself wildly; she couldn't let him see her cry! Never! Never, never, never! She couldn't cry! She couldn't!  
  
Sesshomaru and Kuma were almost back to the castle, he was little grateful to be so near his home, more or less concerned with leaving Naraku alone...and unsupervised... Finally tired enough that he felt he could sleep once again. And with that idea still floating in his mind, he sped up a bit so he could reach his home all the faster.  
  
As they walked through the door, Sesshomaru told Kuma that one of the human servants would give him a room, bath, and food; and then they continued towards Sesshomaru's room.  
  
As they made their way through the halls and got closer to Sesshomaru's room, he caught scent of Naraku nearby, but thought nothing of it.   
  
They were close to Naraku's rooms anyway; But as they drew closer, Sesshomaru realized Naraku's scent was coming from his own room, not the room Naraku was supposed to inhabit.  
  
He could also tell that Kagome was still in the close vicinity of his rooms and was probably, in fact, still in his room. Then another scent came to his nose that slightly disturbed him; blood, his brother's wench's blood.  
  
Quickening his pace to reach them before anything happened in his room, Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed in fury; it was bad enough he was going to have to try and sleep with her blood scent filling the room... he didn't want THAT scent in there as well.   
  
Especially if it was from Naraku and that human.  
  
Sesshomaru had broke into a run sometime during his thinking. Coming to a stop before his front door to his bedchamber, he slid open the shoji door and was very displeased at the sight that greeted him.   
  
The bitch was tied so that her arms were stretched above her head, the front of her shirt was in shreds, and Naraku stood in front of her with his mouth on one of her breast's, biting hard and drawing blood.   
  
For a second he was impressed that she hadn't screamed yet, but instantly shook that feeling off to deal with Naraku.  
  
He motioned for Kuma to follow him and stay quiet, which he complied easily enough despite the clear look of disapproval and disguist upon his face. Stepping into the room he was remotely surprised to find that Naraku still had not sensed him.   
  
He also saw that the girl had her eyes shut and was biting her lip to keep from screaming. 'Odd,' he thought. 'With her abilities she should have sensed me by now.' He didn't think on it for very long, because he had arrived within an arms reach of Naraku and the miko.  
  
"Naraku, I never thought you would stoop so low as to rape a human, let alone someone ELSE'S human." Sesshomaru said in a reproachful tone.  
  
That got his attention, silently cursing himself for being too distracted to notice Sesshomaru enter the vicinity; he turned around to face the emperor.  
  
"Gomennasai, my lord." Naraku said as he bowed down low with one knee on the floor.  
  
It had also caught Kagome's attention, she glanced at him for barely a second to confirm that it was indeed Sesshomaru there and then she turned her head away from him. She was embarrassed that he had found her in such a weak position.   
She should have been able to keep him away. She should have tried to use her abilities sooner, but he had not really given her a need to; next time, she would not be so slow.  
  
Sesshomaru let a barely audible snort loose at Naraku's actions and words; he didn't believe Naraku for a second, but said nothing. Instead, he reached over his clawed hand and with a flick of his wrist, cut the rope that was holding Kagome's hands.  
  
Kagome fell towards the ground, swiftly regaining her balance and senses, she then wrapped her arms protectively around her chest, shielding her breasts from the three men's gazes.  
  
Kagome did a double take. 'Wait... three. There isn't supposed to be three...' But when she looked at them to gauge them, there stood another male youkai flanking Sesshomaru's right, 'I wonder who he is....' Kagome thought, while she studied the new youkai briefly.  
  
Sesshomaru was content to let Naraku kneel before him for a time, but finally he got sick of his scent. "Get up and leave my room now." Sesshomaru ordered.  
  
Naraku looked up at him with false humility and gratification on his face. "As you wish, my lord." With that he stood up, bowed from the waist, and left for his room to nurse his pride.  
  
"What are you doing still in my room, wench?" Sesshomaru inquired none too happily.  
  
"Gomennasai," Kagome spoke through clenched teeth; 'I had neerly been raped and he has the gall to be an ass!', "I was waiting for Koshimoto to come back with some food. She was going to take the food, clothes, and myself there all at once, instead of taking several trips." Kagome explained, with a slight bow at the waist, unintentionally giving both of the males an eyeful of cleavage if they wished to look.  
  
That was when Kuma decided to speak up. "Quite a pretty little bed warmer you have there, my lord." He commented, stepping closer to her; when he got within an arms length, he reached out his arm and tried to grab her arm away from its protective position over her chest.  
  
Through all that she stayed quiet still until he succeeded in removing one of her arms from its place. She jerked away from him, but stayed within reach, and replaced the arm to its spot. Then she surprised them both by jumping up and doing a perfect roundhouse kick, hitting Kuma in the back of the head.   
  
She landed in a crouch and somehow managed to keep her arms protectively wrapped around her chest. After she stood back up she looked him defiantly in the eye and glared at him.   
  
"I am NOT a bed warmer." The young miko ground out at him with an ice cold edge to her voice.  
  
"Do you understand that?" Her temper flared and so did her power. 'I guess the spell wore off... Good, now I can protect myself....' she thought with an internal smirk.  
  
He growled at her, sounding very much like a bear, before lunging at her, looking rather...mad.  
  
Sesshomaru stepped between the two, smirking mentally.   
  
His intervention got Kuma to halt his attack.   
  
"Please do not injure my property, Kuma." Sesshomaru spoke. And even though he said please, they all knew it was a mere formality and held no real meaning.   
  
What Sesshomaru had spoke was more of a command than a request.  
  
Kuma looked about to protest, but then remembered who he was talking to and submitted. "Yes, my lord. But may I ask why you allowed such a blatantly disrespectful act to take place, by a ningen?" Kuma inquired respectfully, but still curious as to why the emperor had not disciplined the human for her actions himself.  
  
"No, you may not. Just know that my reason's are my own." Sesshomaru told him.   
  
He then turned to the still glaring miko and quirked an eyebrow at the fact that she had not changed shirts yet.   
  
Kagome saw where his line of view was and spared herself a glance, she then had the decency to blush a little. Walking over to the pile of clothes she shed the shredded tank top, then grabbed a shirt off the top of the pile and noticed it to be a black spaghetti strap, tank top.   
  
She blushed a little more, but decided it was better than what she had on right now. She had picked it out to sleep in but it would do until she got shown to her new room. So with a sigh, she put the garment on.  
  
After she pulled the shirt on, there was a light knock at the door. Kagome decided to at least act the part of a servant for now since Sesshomaru had stopped Naraku. Walking over to the door; mulling a few things over in her mind, she shuddered just from the thought of what he had wanted to do and decided that it was most likely the same Naraku that had coveted the Shikon no Tama so greatly in the past...but if that were true...then wouldn't he be...?  
  
When she got to the shoji door, she slid it open to reveal Koshimoto loaded down with a large tray and much food.   
  
"Why did you bring so much?" Kagome questioned while taking the tray from her and walking over towards the low table to set it down.   
  
Koshimoto walked into the room and noticed that Sesshomaru was standing there along with another youkai, she stopped in her path, to bow to Sesshomaru.   
  
He nodded his head and she got up and finished following Kagome.  
  
"I brought so much because it is almost breakfast time and I figured my lord, the emperor, would be hungry as well." She said with a quick glance at Sesshomaru.  
  
Kagome looked at all the food and then at Sesshomaru. "Hungry?" She asked with a small smile gracing her lips.  
  
Sesshomaru said nothing, but made his way over to where the food was and sat down, waiting to be served. When Koshimoto moved to serve him, he stopped her. "No. Kagome will do it, you may leave." Sesshoumaru spoke to the servant, properly disimissing her; turning to Kuma he then spoke, "Kuma, come, sit and eat breakfast."   
  
Sesshomaru gave orders to everyone in the room in less than two minutes and no one argued.  
  
Koshimoto left after a quick bow, Kuma joined them at the low table, and Kagome glared at Sesshomaru. When Sesshomaru looked back at her, she could see, for just a moment, a glimmer of mirth dancing in his eyes.  
  
She sighed and reluctantly served them all breakfast. After all three had been served, they settled down to their individual meals and thoughts.  
  
-What do you guys think? Me, i liked it. :) Sorry that I didn't send you the revised version crash, I was to tired to toss the chapter back and forth ya'know? later- 


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